Joe and I travelled to Barcelona for my birthday a few weeks ago and I have to say, what a lovely place it is. I wish I could travel all the time it is definitely my passion, there’s so many places I’d love to visit. As I read lots of travel blogs I thought I’d write my own a mini travel guide for you.
So, let's talk about Barcelona…
Arriving in Barcelona / Getting from the airport
Barcelona flights are pretty cheap depending on the time of year, as I said we flew out in March. We flew with Ryanair, I don’t really recommend Ryanair at all, fair enough the flights are cheap but then they want you to have lots of add ons. Sending you various emails everyday – it gets on my nerves. But you can pretty much fly from anywhere in the UK direct to Barcelona.
As we arrived at Barcelona there were sign posts all the way out of the airport for buses, taxis or the metro. I had read that the metro was so easy to use so we decided to do that. The airport is around 30 minutes from the city centre, so it wasn’t far at all – very easy.
There is so much to do in Barcelona, most people tend (like me) to book as a mini break but honestly, I could have easily had a week there. I’d defiantly recommend if you want to do everything and not be rushed, go for a week. But it was also so lovely for the four nights that we had. As we went in March we weren’t expecting fabulous weather, but it turned out to be around 20 degrees which was just perfect temperature for the sight-seeing.
Getting around Barcelona
We decided to get a two day pass on the underground metro and this was 100% worth it. People say Barcelona is small and you can walk around, although the main attractions are fairly spread out. So I do definitely think the metro is the cheapest and best way of getting round, however it is known for pickpockets so be careful. The Metro over there is so much nicer, cleaner and easier than London underground.
Of course there are taxis everywhere so if you don’t like the underground there is always that option. Our hotel had free bikes that you could take out which I’d of loved to use but personally I didn’t want to ride around the roads as they are very busy and confusing. There are plenty of people who do it though, I think it’d be lovely biking round near the beach.
Of course there are taxis everywhere so if you don’t like the underground there is always that option. Our hotel had free bikes that you could take out which I’d of loved to use but personally I didn’t want to ride around the roads as they are very busy and confusing. There are plenty of people who do it though, I think it’d be lovely biking round near the beach.
Our Hotel - Petit Palace Museum
Our hotel… well, I do always pick a good one touch wood haha. It was lovely, perfect for our mini break away. Located on Passeig de Gracia which is the main shopping street, in the centre for almost everything and the Gothic quarter is just minutes walk away. Petit Palace is a group and they have a few different hotels around Spain. We chose one of the rooftop rooms which had a jacuzzi and it was so perfect, especially as it was my birthday. They had put balloons, a card, a little cake and a bottle of prosecco in our room after being out all day – what a lovely surprise it was.
Things to do around Barcelona:
FC Barcelona: I think this was secretly Joe’s favourite thing we did. We had a tour which took us through the museum and out into the stadium seats, it was quite cool so it was definitely worth going.
Park Guell: This is the main park that everyone visits, we first arrived and thought wow we must be early there’s hardly anyone here, we hadn’t realised how big it was! It was lovely to walk around, it’s very pretty. I was a little disappointed when I found out that you had to pay to go into the area where all the pretty tiles are which was very overcrowded, so we didn't bother.
The Bunkers: I’m so glad we found this place on Instagram, it took us a while to find it though as we walked up from Park Guell. The place itself isn’t partically nice, it had all rubble and graffiti everywhere but the view makes you forget all that. We headed up there in the middle of the day but it would have been lovely to go up there for sunset and maybe take a picnic and some drinks! We took our photos, embraced the view and walked down which took us maybe half an hour before finding a tube station.
Le Sagrada Familia: Wow. We got off the metro and straight away saw the most beautiful church, it is huge! We didn’t actually pay to go inside, but half built with scaffolding around and it still looks amazing.
Beaches: We had a trip down to the beach, it was lovely to walk around and very clean. But personally I don’t actually like beaches that much so I wouldn’t want to sit there all day.
Magic Fountain: If you're in Barcelona you need to go and see the Magic Fountain. It's amazing, we headed up there for the 8pm show time, lots of people there and it was defiantly a lovely night before heading home the next morning.
Cereal Hunters Cafe: It's a little fun cafe, you go in and choose what cereal, get a choice of toping and choose a coloured milk - I personally loved it, I felt like a little kid
Brunch and Cake: Definitely the place to be for food, it was so busy, it reminded me of Elan cafe in London. It's a great place for brunch, flowers everywhere and very cute. They do things like pancakes, açai bowls, eggs, avocado on toast, smoothies, juices and sandwiches.
Macchina: Pasta place - my favourite! We found this place not far from our hotel and it was fab. It's kinda like a self service, you go up and order your food and they bring it to you - Joe said it was the nicest lasagna he has ever had!
La Rambla Square: This is the lovely square with lots of restaurants, we ate there two nights at different restaurants. There's lots to choose from and it's a great atmosphere!
Love T x
No comments
Post a Comment